Planescape Planescape Pre-order Page Shows Off The Books!

You can now pre-order Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse from D&D Beyond. The set comes out on October 17th.

Scroll down through the comments to see more various peeks at the books!

Planescape: Adventures in the Multiverse

An adventure setting spanning the infinite realities of the world’s greatest roleplaying game

www.dndbeyond.com

• Discover 2 new backgrounds, the Gate Warden & the Planar Philosopher, to build planar characters in the D&D Beyond character builder
• Channel 7 otherworldly feats, new intriguing magic spells & more powered by planar energies
• Explore 12 new ascendant factions, each with distinct cosmic ideologies
• Face over 50 unusual creatures including planar incarnates, hierarch modrons, and time dragons in the Encounter Builder
• Journey across the Outlands in an adventure for characters levels 3-10 and 17
• Adds adventure hooks, encounter tables, maps of Sigil and the Outlands & more to your game

This 3 books set comprises:

• Sigil and the Outlands: a setting book full of planar character options with details on the fantastic City of Doors, descriptions of the Outlands, the gate-towns that lead to the Outer planes, and more
• Turn of the Fortunes Wheel: an adventure set in Sigil and the Outlands designed for character levels 3-10 with a jump to level 17
• Morte’s Planar Parade: Follow Morte as he presents over 50 inhabitants of the Outer Plane, including incarnates, hierarch modrons, time dragons, and more with their stats and descriptions

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Definitely a purchase for me. Now I just need to decide if I want the FLGS or the standard cover

I always get the FLGS cover

Based on a perhaps bad assumption that eventually the FLGS covers will stop being printed, while the regular cover will persist as long as the book is in print - so therefore I can get the regular cover "at any time"

 

[BovineofWar]

So, here's something I hope WotC makes clearer than I think TSR did: Other than the gate towns and the spire, what else is in the Outlands? I've often seen it described in such bare bones terms that it's effectively an empty landscape with a few towns and gates dotting it, which is super-boring. Does it look like the Material Plane? Is it an alien world with its own look and feel?

I don't think you're wrong at all. The boxed sets don't go beyond Sigil and the gate towns at least, with the occasional visits in adventures.

The only good reference I've read was On Hallowed Grounds, which describes the domains of deities that reside in the Outlands. E.g. The House of Knowledge in Oghma's domain, Ireland-like country side with rivers and small towns, the Wild Hunt roaming to stop invaders, etc.

I'd love to hear if there were other products. I'm guessing the Outlands was part 'Let the DM throw anything they want in here', at least that's the impression I got from the randomized time to travel rules.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The original box set describes various locations and some godly realms (of true neutral deities).

It's fairly normal looking in regards to what someone from the Material Plane would expect, other than the huge spire and Sigil floating atop it. The other big difference would be how magic is less powerful the closer to the spire one gets.

In that case, I guess I'd like to see a few hexes around a gatetown fleshed out in the new adventure, just so see that it's not some flat, empty plain, but a place with towns and rivers and farms and so on.

 

[Zaukrie]

You're practically begging me to create this.......

Just skimmed some / much of the stuff on the outlands and realms and towns, and man, hard to come up with a GREAT idea fast for a low level adventure......this size of Phandalin.....

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Just skimmed some / much of the stuff on the outlands and realms and towns, and man, hard to come up with a GREAT idea fast for a low level adventure......this size of Phandalin.....

I feel like the place to look would be some sort of slice of life science fiction. It shouldn't be just like the Material Plane, but it also shouldn't be competing for Most Weird with the Outer Planes, since that's what they're there for.

 

[Demetrios1453]

In that case, I guess I'd like to see a few hexes around a gatetown fleshed out in the new adventure, just so see that it's not some flat, empty plain, but a place with towns and rivers and farms and so on.

It sounds like much of the adventure in the upcoming product will be in the Outlands, going by the blurbs we've had so far. Beyond that, as discussed above, the adventure book, DM screen, and even the map show a walking tower that are apparently common sights on the plane.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I feel like the place to look would be some sort of slice of life science fiction. It shouldn't be just like the Material Plane, but it also shouldn't be competing for Most Weird with the Outer Planes, since that's what they're there for.

Depending on who is the big bad, could be some lower level flunkies trying to flex their muscles on the side in a place like Phandalin or anywhere really

 

[Zaukrie]

I feel like the place to look would be some sort of slice of life science fiction. It shouldn't be just like the Material Plane, but it also shouldn't be competing for Most Weird with the Outer Planes, since that's what they're there for.

I think you'd have to create a new town near Sigil, that is trying to survive as it gets pulled toward whatever plane it is part of......or something like that. You could have small incursions from the plane's denizens, a search for a McGuffin that can keep the town where it is, etc.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Depending on who is the big bad, could be some lower level flunkies trying to flex their muscles on the side in a place like Phandalin or anywhere really

Yeah, the easiest thing to do would be to take a standard first level adventure and just map it over to how it's different in the Outlands.

Instead of standard goblins, do we have something else? What do the caravans getting ambushed look like? What are they carrying?

How is the town different? What services do they have? How are the services different for being in the Outlands?

What stuff is in a low level dungeon in the Outlands? It shouldn't just be stuff slapped with the 5E equivalent of a template.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

So, here's something I hope WotC makes clearer than I think TSR did: Other than the gate towns and the spire, what else is in the Outlands? I've often seen it described in such bare bones terms that it's effectively an empty landscape with a few towns and gates dotting it, which is super-boring. Does it look like the Material Plane? Is it an alien world with its own look and feel?

I'd love to see a classic starting adventure like Lost Mines set in and around a gatetown, but for that to work, there would need to be more than just a gatetown and a gate there.

And yes, I know someone who has ingested every bit of Planescape content is going to tell me I'm clearly wrong, because "an article in Dragon magazine once said," but I'm talking about how little flavor and description Outland gets generally, when it's second only to Sigil in its possibilities as a staging ground for planar adventures.

Pops open 2e Player's Primer to the Outlands

Let's see here... Setting aside the 16 Gate-Towns, we have:

Specific Locations

• The Court of Light - divine realm of the naga goddess Shekinester
• The Dwarven Mountain - divine realm of three dwarven gods and massive subterranean dwarven civilization
• Gzemnid's Realm - divine realm of a beholder god, somewhat mingling with the realm of the illithid god Ilsensine
• The Hidden Realm - divine realm of the giant god Annam
• The Hinterlands - the unmappable region outside the ring of the Gate-Towns, where space and distance becomes warped
• The Caverns of Thought - divine realm of the illithid god Ilsensine, somewhat mingling with the realm of the beholder god Gzemnid
• Ironridge - human community serving as a trade hub between the Dwarven Mountain and the rest of the multiverse
• The Mausoleum of Chronepsis - divine realm of the draconic god of fate
• The Palace of Judgement - divine realm and headquarters of the Celestial Bureaucracy (Chinese pantheon)
• The Realm of the Norns - realm of the Norse fates, home to the Well of Urd and a branch of the World Ash Yggdrasil
• The River Ma'at - home to many villages along its banks, mostly made up of petitioners of the Egyptian god Thoth
• Semuanya's Bog - divine realm of a lizardfolk god
• Sheela Peryroyl's Realm - divine realm of a halfling goddess of agriculture
• The Spire - magic nullifying, infinitely tall mountain in the center of the Outlands
• Thebestys and Thoth's Estate - divine realm(s) of the Egyptian god Thoth, along the river Ma'at
• Tir fo Thuinn - divine realm of Celtic sea god Manannan mac Lir
• Tir na Og - shared divine realm of the rest of the Celtic pantheon
• Tvashtri's Realm - divine realm of a Hindu/Vedic(?) god of artifice and science

General Locations and Groups

• Nomadic tribes of bariaur
• Lost Blood War patrols
• Periodic modron army on march
• Hermitages - assorted singular homesteads, often remote and isolated
• Indep Villages - small, self-sufficient communities scattered across the Outlands
• Walking castles - mobile homesteads of spellcasters looking to take advantage of the Spire's magic suppressing properties

And that's just that one, 32-page book. Could these be expanded upon, certainly - Player's Primer to the Outlands covers them all in ~5 pages and mostly devotes all of two paragraphs a piece to them - but saying there's nothing in the Outlands beyond the Spire and the Gate-Towns is simply false.